Rybalkin, Gortsunyan, Dyakin & Partners (RGD) hosted a webinar on sanctions and arbitration.

Dmitry Dyakin, Partner and the Co-Head of Dispute Resolution practice at RGD acted as a moderator. Three other lawyers acted as speakers: Vladimir Pestrikov, partner at RGD Dispute Resolution practice and associate Vadim Vunukainen as well as Alexander Grebelsky, the Chairman of the Panel for International Disputes at the Arbitration Center at the RSPP, assistant professor at MGIMO’s Department of Private International and Civil Law.

Each of the speakers made a presentation and addressed the questions of the audience. Vladimir Pestrikov covered basic questions related to sanctions and their legal effect, difficulties and consequences for the parties, enforcement of arbitral awards and competence of Russian courts regarding sanctioned persons in light of Articles 248.1 and 248.2 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. Vadim Vunukainen addressed two themes related to the effect of sanctions on the arbitration procedure: the approach of foreign arbitral institutions on the administration of disputes affected by sanctions, including payment of arbitration fee, as well as the practical difficulties of handling  arbitration cases complicated by sanctions. Alexander Grebelsky made a report on Russian arbitral institutions being an alternative to international arbitration institutions, including by the way of concluding an alternative arbitration agreement.

Today, arbitration in the context of sanctions is a pressing issue for Russian business.  The webinar was of high interest. Over 100 participants took part in the event, including RGD’s clients and representatives of large business.